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Whatcha cookin for Turkey Day?

Hi guys!

What are you guys cooking for Thanksgiving this year? Any family recipes you'll be whipping out for the holidays?

Every year I plan out a Thanksgiving dinner for my friends who have no where to go, a thanks giving for strays, if you will. I gather my friends and we all cook together, but oddly enough, there has never been turkey at the table... and being the Asian that I am, I've never cooked turkey. I did some research on how to make turkey, but does anyone have any tips?

There are recipes that say cook for 17 hours, then others that say 5~6 hours... Which is generally better? I'm assuming the 17 hour one.

Pizza! Every year we have a Thanksgiving pizza. Thanksgiving was always a huge deal at my parent's house growing up--the turkey, dressing, potoes, dressing, gravy, pickled peaches, shrimp mousse--you name it, it was probably there to eat. My mom is a direct descendant of William Bradford, the leader of the Pilgrims credited with starting Thanksgiving, so she went WAAAAY over the top. People ate & drank too much and were miserable, there were always at least a couple of people mad at each other by the end of the day, and the cleanup was terrifying. Many, many years ago hubby and I started our pizza tradition. We make a pizza, enjoy a day of peace and quiet, and count our blessings.

My mom actually made a pretty decent turkey. She cooked it for a long time in a covered roasting pan, and dumped the better part of a bottle of sherry on it. You didn't get a brown skin, but the bird was moist and the gravy was great. The best part was the turkey neck. It would cook for hours covered with sherry down in the bottom of the pan.

We actually started our thanksgiving about a month early... However, some things that is easy in the states is not as easy in Sweden
Invited some friends that we got to know when in Philly.

Anyway,
Cooked turkey Alton Brown style. Wanted to see his perfect turkey youtube. Not open for sweden. Had to log on to the company US network to fake sitting in WI.
Roasted sweet & normal potatoes, swedes and carrots
Made gravy from sherry, brown bits and juice from turkey
Roasted brussel sprouts
Steamed string beans
Salad
Apple sauce from the neighbours apples
And for the grand finale; homemade cranberry sauce. Now cranberry sauce may not seem like a big deal to you, but they are not available fresh in Sweden. Thus i got a friend to go to a shop and get two bags which promptly got overnighted with UPS to Sweden!

i'm going to my sister in law's house. last year i did the big dinner, and i made an Alton Brown style turkey, mac and cheese, and bread (other people contributed other things). this year, the SIL is doing a turkey, so i'm going to roast a duck, make cranberry sauce, and make bread. there will be many other side dishes, i'm sure.

The one thing I don't do for Thanksgiving is cook a turkey, by that time I am sick of seeing turkey. So far I only have the appetizers done LOL still battling for the main course, sides tend to take care of them selves after the main course is selected...

Living on one part time job is keeping things in the skinny side but we shall still have a nice spread

Pizza! Every year we have a Thanksgiving pizza. Thanksgiving was always a huge deal at my parent's house growing up--the turkey, dressing, potoes, dressing, gravy, pickled peaches, shrimp mousse--you name it, it was probably there to eat. My mom is a direct descendant of William Bradford, the leader of the Pilgrims credited with starting Thanksgiving, so she went WAAAAY over the top. People ate & drank too much and were miserable, there were always at least a couple of people mad at each other by the end of the day, and the cleanup was terrifying. Many, many years ago hubby and I started our pizza tradition. We make a pizza, enjoy a day of peace and quiet, and count our blessings.

My mom actually made a pretty decent turkey. She cooked it for a long time in a covered roasting pan, and dumped the better part of a bottle of sherry on it. You didn't get a brown skin, but the bird was moist and the gravy was great. The best part was the turkey neck. It would cook for hours covered with sherry down in the bottom of the pan.

What the heck!? She's a descendant of William Bradford?! Wow thats awesome, and yes that would be a reason to go over the top on Thanksgiving... Ohhhh my god, I have nightmares about after dinner party clean ups... A peaceful and laid back Thanksgiving sounds awesome too. You forget to count your blessings when you're running around like a headless chicken in the kitchen.

mmm... I'll try using sherry instead of white wine. Thanks for the tip!

Yeah, great-something grandaddy was the leader of a bunch of crazy religious cultists who sailed across the ocean in a leaking little boat to start their own community. Today they'd probably be arrested for endangering their children and sent for psychiatric evaluation. The cool thing about it is that Julia Child was also supposed to be a decendant, so in some convoluted way I'm related to Julia!